Mesa’s Big New Bonus
Bonus of the Week: 50k points with Mesa
This week’s biggest deal is a 50,000-point sign-up bonus on the Mesa Homeowner’s Card. We just published our review, and thought it could be a great option for the right mortgage-paying homeowner even when it had no bonus.
Now you get $500+ towards travel just for signing up and spending $5,000+ within three months, for a negative-fee card (no annual fee plus hundreds in statement credits) that offers up to 100k points per year for mortgage payments.
If that’s not enough, some are already anticipating that the way Mesa’s mortgage bonus works will allow you to double dip, receiving both Bilt and Mesa points once Bilt’s mortgage points system comes online.
Other great bonuses
70k miles on the AA Aviator Red
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
News of the week 📰
Southwest’s new rules on portable charging. After a series of on-board fires in recent years, Southwest is the first US airline to restrict portable charger use in carry-on bags; passengers can only use chargers when visible to cabin crew. We’ll have to wait and see if this is a sign of things to come for other US airlines.
Welcome the Citi Strata. The Citi Strata Premier has a new younger sibling, the Strata (a refreshed version of Citi’s former Rewards+ card). TPG thinks the new card looks pretty good, and I agree. Full review to come.
Get Delta MQD’s for stays and rental cars. Now through July 14th, travel booked through Delta Travel Extras (for travel dates from through September 7th) will earn 1 MQD per base dollar. This is a great way to hit elite status if you are already halfway there thanks to a card like the Delta Amex Platinum.
New benefits 🆕
Bilt adds another transfer partner. This time it’s Qatar Airways. This adds nothing much to the value of Bilt since Qatar uses Avios, which can be transferred freely to Qatar from Bilt’s existing Avios partners like British Airways. But we can probably expect a big transfer bonus in a future Rent Day.
Alaska adds new partner. Speaking of Bilt, I love their points because they can be transferred to Alaska for great redemption options. Those options just got even better—now you can redeem Alaska miles for flights with Philippine Airlines. Read more about it from Daily Drop.
American has food at last. One of my hot takes is that you’re often better off buying food on the plane. I love Delta’s chicken salad sandwich. But if you’re hungry on an AA flight, you’ve pretty much been out of luck. That’s changing. View from the Wing explains.
Devaluations 📉
Bilt slashes bonus points on rent for most cards. Well, that didn’t last long. We posted recently about the opportunity to use any credit card to pay rent via Bilt and earn Bilt points. All cards will now earn 1 point for each $2 of rent (previously it was 1:1 for all but Amex cards, which was 1:2). But this doesn’t actually change my original take—useful for meeting a spending bonus but not a good value otherwise.
United cuts loyalty program perks. The “excursionist perk,” instant upgrades, and upgrade award charts are all going away, per TPG. These benefits were only really useful to the highly engaged and points-rich, but no devaluation is a good one.
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
—LazyPoints